Kinematic-based seismic landslide risk assessment to linear projects in mountainous areas: a case study of the Western Sichuan Railway, China

As human socioeconomic activities expand into complex and perilous mountainous areas, engineering projects in these areas face unprecedented landslide risks, particularly linear projects such as railways and highways. However, research on landslide risk assessment specifically tailored to linear projects in mountainous terrain remains limited. A novel technical framework for kinematic-based seismic landslide risk assessment to linear projects is proposed, whose key components include landslide development characteristics, seismic landslide hazard assessment, distributed kinematic-based landslide simulation, vulnerability assessment of linear projects, and integrated seismic landslide risk assessment. Depending on the type of linear projects, the linear elements at risk are discretized into a series of line segments or points to facilitate a more precise vulnerability assessment. Taking the Western Sichuan Railway as a case study, the seismic landslide hazard assessment is improved through kinematic-based landslide simulation. Six factors—derived from both attribute characteristics and post-disaster resilience—are used to construct a comprehensive vulnerability indicator system, enabling a full seismic landslide risk assessment for mountainous linear projects. The research findings provide a valuable reference and novel insight for landslide risk assessment of linear projects in mountainous areas.